This invention relates to a computer system and method for providing an adaptive computer display screen window.
A typical operation of a computer may include the following sequence of events.
The computer display screen presents to a user, upon the advent of a first operating session, a default display screen window.
The default display screen window may, or may not, depending upon a particular computer, accommodate computer generated human factor inputs and requirements. For example, FIG. 1A illustrates a default display screen window 10 which does not accommodate computer generated human factor inputs and requirementsxe2x80x94which FIG. 1A is now instructively contrasted with FIG. 1B, numeral 12, which shows the same default display screen window as FIG. 1A, but with the manifest advantage of accommodating computer generated human factor inputs and requirements. Note, for example, the FIG. 1B human factor inputs based inter alia on the well known techniques of scaling, grouping, or location.
Thereafter, and within the first operating session, the user may generally edit the FIG. 1A default window (with or without the FIG. 1B computer generated human factor input), by at will e.g., enlarging or shrinking the window, dividing the screen into a plurality of independent windows, or changing at least one of color, font, or topological arrangement of the window(s) per screen (as shown in FIGS. 2A-D, discussed in detail, below).
As this editing action unfolds over time, instantaneous user edits generally vitiate previous edit actions. Accordingly, at the conclusion of the first operating session, the original FIG. 1A default display screen window has been superseded by an image that represents a users last edit action (FIG. 2D) re enlargement, shrinkage, color, font, etc. This last image, in turn, may or may not (depending on a particular computer system), be invoked at the beginning of a second operating session, in favor of the FIG. 1A default display screen window. In this connection, moreover, we note that in all cases, in the prior art, the computer may incorporate or accommodate computer generated human factor inputs or requirements of the type shown in FIG. 1B, but this action is independent of the user editing action(s) of the type shown in FIGS. 2A-D.
Our work seeks to further improve and refine this illustrative operation of a computer, by enabling it to efficiently and advantageously realize a new capability vis-a-vis the invocation of a computer display screen upon instantiation of an operating session.
In particular, our new capability may be realized in an invention, which in a first aspect, discloses a computer operated method comprising the steps of:
(1) ascertaining a property of a window to be displayed on a computer screen in a default condition during a first operating session;
(2) monitoring property changes prompted by inputs by a user to effect changes from the default condition of the window, thereby reflecting a user""s specific window activity pattern developed during the first operating session;
(3) creating a first referent comprising a history of the step (2) window activity pattern;
(4) creating a second referent comprising human factor rules which are pertinent to a property of a window;
(5) creating a modified referent by actions comprising at least one of:
a) subjecting the first referent to constraints imposed by the second referent developed as a reflection of said user specific activity pattern during the first operating session;
b) subjecting the second referent to constraints imposed by the first referent developed as a reflection of said human factor rules pertinent during the first operating session; and
c) simultaneously optimizing said first and second referents; and
(6) using the modified referent for generating an instant window for display during a second operating session, which instant window has been adaptively modified from the default condition window so that it""s properties correlate to the user""s specific window activity pattern and the pertinent human factor rules.
The present invention, accordingly, if now set in apposition to the prior art described above, can be shown to manifest significant and advantageous differences. It is recalled that as editing actions unfold over time in the prior art, instantaneous edits generally vitiate previous edit actions, and, these actions are independent of human factor rule considerations.
The present invention, in sharp contrast to the prior art, monitors such edit actions (i.e., does not vitiate the edit, as information) to an end of creating preliminary materials comprising a user profile reflecting user editing action developed during at least a finite portion of an operating session. Then, an instant display can be presented during a second operating session, which instant display is cognizant and reflective of user specific window subjectivity, as developed or weighted over time, and, which self-reflexively informs (or is informed by) human factor rule considerations (in at least a three-fold way, as defined above, i.e., step (5) a, b, c).
Preferably, step (1) of the method includes ascertaining a status of the default condition by registering at least one of font, color, location, shape, and content of the default window.
Step (2) may comprise monitoring property changes prompted by the user throughout the entire first operating session.
Step (3) of the method may include creating the first referent by (1) determining frequency-of-use of user window activity; or, (2) computing the maximum likelihood expected values for the properties of user window activity; or, (3) using the last image pattern displayed by the user in that operating session.
Preferably, step (3) includes creating a first referent comprising a user window activity history developed over several operating sessions.
Preferably, step (4) includes creating the second referent by optimizing a screen layout utilizing optimization via human factor rules using a method of Lagrangian multipliers for handling the constraints imposed by the user""s activity pattern.
In a second aspect, the present invention discloses a program storage device readable by machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps for providing an adaptive window display, the method comprising the steps of:
(1) ascertaining a property of a window to be displayed on a computer screen in a default condition during a first operating session;
(2) monitoring property changes prompted by inputs by a user to effect changes from the default condition of the window, thereby reflecting a user""s specific window activity pattern developed during the first operating session;
(3) creating a first referent comprising a history of the step (2) window activity pattern;
(4) creating a second referent comprising human factor rules which are pertinent to a property of a window;
(5) creating a modified referent by actions comprising at least one of:
a) subjecting the first referent to constraints imposed by the second referent developed as a reflection of said user specific activity pattern during the first operating session;
b) subjecting the second referent to constraints imposed by the first referent developed as a reflection of said pertinent human factor rules during the first operating session; and
c) simultaneously optimizing said first and second referents; and
(6) using the modified referent for generating an instant window for display during a second operating session, which instant window has been adaptively modified from the default condition window so that it""s properties correlate to the user""s specific window activity pattern and the pertinent human factor rules.
In a third aspect, the present invention discloses a computer system suitable for providing an adaptive computer screen window display, the system comprising:
(1) CPU means for ascertaining a property of a window to be displayed on a computer screen in a default condition during a first operating session;
(2) CPU means for monitoring property changes prompted by inputs by a user to effect changes from the default condition of the window to reflect a user""s specific window activity pattern during the first operating session;
(3) CPU means for creating a first referent comprising a history of the window activity pattern;
(4) CPU means for creating a second referent comprising human factor rules which are pertinent to a property of a window;
(5) CPU means for creating a modified referent by actions comprising at least one of:
a) subjecting the first referent to constraints imposed by the second referent developed as a reflection of said user specific activity pattern during the first operating session;
b) subjecting the second referent to constraints imposed by the first referent developed as a reflection of said pertinent human factor rules during the first operating session; and
c) simultaneously optimizing said first and second referents; and
(6) CPU means for using the modified referent for generating an instant window for display during a second operating session, which instant window has been adaptively modified from the default condition window so that it""s properties correlate to the user""s specific window activity pattern and the pertinent human factor rules.
In a fourth aspect, the present invention discloses a computer system comprising:
1) an open loop structure comprising:
a) a default screen node;
b) a summing node;
c) a first input vector derived from the default screen node for input to the summing node and comprising a computer display default screen from a preceding operating session;
d) a second input vector to the summing node comprising a user generated display screen for input to the summing node during a current operating session; the summing node capable of receiving said first and second input vectors and outputting a first signal;
e) a display processing module which receives the first signal and outputs a resultant display screen; and
2) a closed loop structure comprising a feedback loop which closes around the open loop structure by:
a) sensing changes in a current display;
b) remembering a history of resultant changes developed over a current operating session;
c) modifying the history of resultant changes developed over the current session so that the history has adaptable changes informed by human factor constraints; or optimizing the current session screen layout via human factor rules, constrained by the user""s activity pattern; and
d) generating a display screen which can be correlated to the modified history of changes developed over the current operating session or correlated to the optimized session screen layout, for outputting to the default screen node a new default screen for presentation upon instantiation of a subsequent operating session.